Hi I'm Grant the Polite Guy and I was homeless for about a year and a half. So much has happened since then. I write here to help bring homeless awareness looking at the world through a homeless person's point of view.

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Friday, December 24, 2010

Two sleeps left

Well if I didn't know it Christmas time I do now. About 6 am yesterday morning a mother and her little daughter (about 5 year old) walked pass and both said “good morning” of which I replied “Good morning and Merry Christmas”. The little girl turned around and ran towards me. “Do you know how many sleeps until Santa comes?” I could already see she couldn't wait to tell me, so I ask “how many?” her eyes lit up as if excited to let me know. “Just two more sleeps left” all smiles and happy.

Now mum was only a few steps away waiting for her daughter to walk with her. The daughter looked at her mum and moved closer to me as if to tell me something without her mum hearing. “Mum don't know yet but I'm going to have a day sleep today and sleep tonight then Santa will come tomorrow morning because I had my two sleeps.” I laughed so much the mum came closer to find out what was so funny. Of course I told the mum who laughed while taking her daughter to work and explaining it might work but Santa comes to everyone at the same time.

That 5 year old little girl is one smart kid. At lest she's thinking ahead in life. Ha ha

Sometimes I'll come across a person that just doesn’t want to say “no” or “no thank you” and instead says “get a job you bum” or “F**koff”. Now when I meet lovely people like this I really feel like saying something back. But really why bother. I put it down to, that's he's nature not mine.

Firstly I hate to yell and if I started yelling bad language well people wouldn't call me Grant the Polite Guy. Ha ha. I really like my title.

So one morning I'm working and smiling and thinking today's going to be a great day. Up comes a guy and say “Big Issue” and this nice guy says “F**koff and get a job.” and rushes past. I leave it and turn and start asking more people. (trying to pretend it never happen).

Now as I get to know people I say “good morning” instead of “Big Issue”

About an hour later one of my good customers comes up to buy a magazine. Yep he had a friend with him. The customer saying hi and hows things. Then says he's showing the new guy the ropes as he started that morning. Now I will say a lot of thoughts went through my head right then. Things I could say or do. My customer said to the new guy “I only ever buy it from Grant because every morning he says “good morning and is always polite”. Oh now my mind is really thinking of things I could say to this new guy. Ha ha.

I held out my hand and said “Hi I'm Grant nice to meet you.” and acted in front of my customer like I never meet him before. He shaked my hand with a firm grip, smiled and said “I'm Tom good to meet you.” I turned to my customer and said “firm hand shake and manners, he'll do well” the customer agreed and left talking to the Tom.

I don't think anything I could have said would have hurt his job, but if I did mention how he was really an asshole then people may not think of him the same. That's not a great start at a new job.

Now I'd like to say he buys my magazines but he don't. But every morning he says “Hi Grant” in a nice way. Maybe he was having a bad morning the first time I meet him. But using manners cost nothing.

I found a new reason to love Christmas. Don't get me wrong I think that, anything that brings friends and families together or just think of each other is a great thing.

But my new reason is, so far I have got 15 kisses on the chick, about22 hugs, about 50 men's hand shakes, 2 gift cards, 31 Christmas cards and 2 with money inside, a hamper basket (which I shared with others), a bag with beautiful clothes in it, two gifts for my little girl and last but not least “The Little Fat Man” has bought me a sandwich every morning this week as a Christmas gift so I save the money.

Now I don't normally brag but 15 KISSES on the chick OH YEAH. Oh I do have a great big smile on my face right now.

I have people asking me why I do my postings early hours of the morning? Mostly in comments and there's no email address to reply to. Here's why. My back hurts all the time so it makes it hard to sleep. Early hours in the morning is best time for me because the more I do during the day the more my back hurts so therefore at night it's hard to concentrate and that's when I make a lot of spelling mistakes and it's easy to think only of the bad things to write about.

I get asked to write about a lot of the bad things I see.

NO. There's a lot of bad news out there and I wanted my blog to be more about funny or inspiring that way people read it and get a smile or feel a little inspired. All life has good and bad in it. I like looking for the good in life and in people.

My friend Jess,

She emails me most days and says always I'm doing a great job and to keep going. I will say me handing out the pies and drinks for the homeless on Christmas day will be a lot easier as Jess gave me $50 towards buying more and a nice outfit (bag of cloths for Christmas) so I could wear on Christmas day and look good. It's people like Jess that makes it easier to see good in people.

I hope you all have a Great Christmas and New Year. Remember I only have one Christmas wish and that's your all safe over the holidays.

Hi Grant, Happy New Year. I have been reading your interesting blogs. It is good you are kind to passing people and say hello. Who knows, that might be the best they get all day, then you really have made a difference. Keep up the good work.

About Me

Hi I Grant the polite guy. I'm a big issue vendor that sells mags in the city. I spend most of my time saying "Have a nice day" to people that walk pass. I would see thousands of people a day and see alot of things that I am happy to share with you. If you stand in one spot long enough you'll see the world come to you.
I hope you enjoy the stories and have a nice day.